The main hall was packed like an overflowing jar with panicking figures. From the opposite of Jade’s throne, the sun sliced the men crowding around outside into two parts: torsos of Light and legs dipped in Shadow. They were split in half, like the men that girl left upon his Palace grounds. It was the Third Princess’s ants making the most buzz. They claimed it was her simple prank, one that was supposed to render the demure Seventh daughter helpless and unable to rise in ranks, or dead. Drowning, beating, drowning. She had done similar things, no? Jade thought to himself that his little ambitious daughter was not creative enough— she’d already done that with her other younger Sisters.

  It was clear among the main disciples that the weak Seventh Princess they once knew was definitely not the fragile girl they locked away, though most were hesitant to admit it or believe the news. The Third Princess was in tatters, screaming hysterically. Her precious mortals she loved toying with were all dead, by that bastard princess. Unfortunately for everyone else, that was how short sighted she was. Yue was too young to admit defeat or find out why she lost to someone she so vehemently despised. Since she defeated the Fifth and Sixth Princess so easily, this humiliating sting would only serve to ignite further conflict.

  Jade, as her father, was more unnerved by the sudden shift of power within that girl. Inside of her, it was obvious that she was not his Lin anymore. The problem lay in the girl’s new origins. Was it the rising demons from the South? Perhaps, some demonic sect from the East has infiltrated their ranks? He had his disciples and Imperial Guard wipe out all of his enemies closest to him. Why would they go after such a weak girl like the Princess? Even if she had awakened, his daughters (her vicious Sisters) would not allow any resources for her spiritual growth. So how else did she manage to break through the Sealing Charm’s sacred grounds and nearly kill him? What was that magic?

  The devoted disciples following the Third Princess were enraged, wanting to kill that impudent woman who dare harm their goddess. They were imbred dogs, a waste of precious spiritual power and her time. The other Sisters were out, but secretly Jade was glad. If the Second or First Princess saw their dear Third Princess getting defeated so decisively, that bastard child would be destroyed swiftly. He stifled a shudder using his advanced technique, unable to cope with his own Seal being defeated. It was too early to tell how a showdown between those three Sisters would go if he himself only managed to contain this new Seventh daughter of his. It was not long until the silence of the elders, his own disciples and also the Third Princess’s uproar to become focused upon him again — awaiting his declaration.

  “What is that girl’s Seal again?” He asked.

  “Father!” Yue blubbered. “Kill her! She is weak, dare harming me!”

  A sharp glare silenced her. Another elder hobbled up to him, mentioning that the Seventh Princess’s Seal was believed to be cursed. It made sense to Jade, since he put that consort to death shortly after she was conceived. He replayed the memory of that moment of her demanding answers from him with a deep and unsettling voice. Amnesia, possessed, he stroked his beard. Did someone fall from one of the upper realms? If it was a Great One’s child, then the consequences of interfering with its Divine Tests would surely result in the doom of his Sect.

  “I shall not interfere,” He dismissed them. The Third Daughter’s disciples nearly doubled their uproar’s volume, erupting in curses and vengeful cries. “If you wish to claim her spiritual strength, then defeat her yourselves.”

  “I… I won’t forgive her!” Yue, clutching her broken hand, cursed her sister’s name. The young woman was still determined, so she stormed out of the main hall vowing revenge. Jade sighed, mentally saying goodbye to his daughter. That being currently residing in Lin was a monster of heavenly strength. He prayed that it would have mercy upon her, but based on the savagery he witnessed that was simply asking a devil for a wish.

  The Cursed Transcendent Seal, he mused. It was difficult to remember. That was what the bastard daughter of his had possession of. Jade knew that girl did not know how to use it, as no one did for centuries, but he knew a long and difficult road lay ahead of that girl.

  “M-Master,” an elder asked suddenly. Everyone with a brain understood that by releasing her out into the world to gather her own energy, she would not survive. “You’re not going to punish the young miss?”

  Jade sighed, but then laughed. The remaining men stood awkwardly while awaiting to hear his plans.

  “No,” he declared. “That one has my interest now. Send news that she is allowed to move again. Lin, what is she doing now?”

  Genxing bowed, but his expression held uncertainty in his eyes.

  “She’s just standing in her room… menacingly.”

  ?

  Misa suddenly was left alone in a large room, complete with odd furniture. The way that man, her apparent Father, said that her punishment was this… Solitary confinement. He made it seem much worse than the containment chamber they dropped her off in actually was. Bringing up forced standby mode aloud would only confuse the guards and this new identity Misa obtained somehow was more of a prison than this.

  Despite the room missing sleep pods, computers, and other normal civilian possessions that Misa had categorized young humans from Earth had — this cell had nothing but an actual large bed, pillows and drapes made out of soft materials. These furniture fixtures were like ancient times and like the ones up in space hotels back where Earth was. Authentic. She felt a blanket, still marveling at the instant feedback the new sensation of “touching” things gave her. As she smoothed over the cloth, spiked dopamine levels followed up her nerves. It was soft, all of the Nanites gathered in her fingertips declared. Soft and comforting, though the amenity seemed like it would make a human lethargic and become horribly inefficient. Her eyes were transformed by the Swarm’s integration, listing the materials as standard manmade products.

  Despite having the Swarm’s enhancements, Misa did not have a way of interacting with the strange energy that seemed to flow throughout the entire atmosphere since she had invaded. A ding! played in her head, delivering a crude notification instead of a Data Curve and indicating that her eyes were fully transformed. Neoma works fast, as was the Black Wolf Company motto, despite being incomplete and presumably stuck inside the White Room.

  The new file arrived when the Overwatch was approximately halfway rebuilt. Misa scanned her surroundings out of habit, however, the Nanites in her current form were too limited and could not complete the Swarm’s command to connect to Black Wolf Company servers. No one was within auditory range of her. Odd. She decided to open it instead, ignoring whatever emotions her Host had triggered during this minor inconvenience. Unfortunately for Misa, opening it triggered her to fall into Standby mode.

  Misa felt a pang of renewed responsibility shoot through her Host’s mind, but also another sense of self-preservation emerge. She did not want to shut herself down after eliminating Claire Lykos. She let out a breath, resembling a perfectly replicated sigh. This odd rebellious thought must have been a human side effect.

  Misa reflected upon reading the screen. Her Overwatch clearly had an agenda against humans. However, she felt fine in this current form. Controlling multiple biological Hosts would definitely be an issue downstream - the line would be unable to keep up with future precise machinery and retain too much Company tech debt trying to replace human beings during development expansion. Additionally, her Main Swarm upstream would not have sufficient self-replication power if all she did was ship Humans to it within the White Room. This was all conjecture, since Misa herself could not actually tell what was happening within that room anyways.

  The slides stopped and the presentation display vanished, or perhaps Misa turned it off, since she was in deep thought about the file and Neoma did not force her HUD to return to that slideshow again. She also could move again, feeling the temptation to collapse on the sprawling human bed before her. Since there were no Black Wolf Company security cameras around, perhaps she could get away with such unproductive and unprofessional things?

  The purple, fluffy blankets called to her but she shook her head. Misa was on the job and she needed out of this place.